No tire damage:after two years, just wondering if they did some service before landing, at least to inflate them.

Impressive, isn't it, that something like that can orbit for that long in the temperature extremes and vacuum of space and then, when needed, after being exposed to extreme reentry heating, all of its control surfaces, tires, wheels, and brakes work?

"The 30th Space Wing and our mission partners, Air Force Rapid CapabilitiesOffice, Boeing, and our base support contractors, have put countless hoursof hard work into preparing for this landing and today we were able to seethe culmination of that dedication," said Col Keith Balts, 30th Space Wingcommander.

"I'm extremely proud of our team for coming together to execute this thirdsafe and successful landing. Everyone from our on console space operatorsto our airfield managers and civil engineers take pride in this uniquemission and exemplify excellence during its execution."The OTV-3 conducted on-orbit experiments for 674 days during its mission,extending the total number of days spent on-orbit for the OTV program to1367 days.

"The landing of OTV-3 marks a hallmark event for the program" said theX-37B program manager.

"The mission is our longest to date and we're pleased with the incrementalprogress we've seen in our testing of the reusable space plane. Thededication and hard work by the entire team has made us extremely proud."The X-37B is the newest and most advanced re-entry spacecraft. Managed bythe Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office, the X-37B program performs riskreduction, experimentation and concept of operations development forreusable space vehicle technologies.

The Air Force is preparing to launch the fourth X-37B mission from CapeCanaveral Air Force Station in 2015.______________________________________________________________

"Touchdown! Behind the cool pictures of the vehicle there are hundreds of down-to-earth people who literally brought the X-37B down to Earth! They may be humble, but they made history! An amazing team: mission support professionals around the whole base, technicians on the flight line, operators in the ops centers, analysts crunching the numbers and so many others. The game ball (boomerang) went to the primary Range team who truly put some awe into this awesome accomplishment."

Decoding the picture for those unfamiliar with the Air Force The folks in the middle, 1 Capt, 2 1LTs, an enlisted Airmen (can't see the stripes) and 1 civilian who did all the work. On the end, 2 Cols who horn in on the picture and take all the credit on their yearly officer performance reports (OPRs)--"skillfully directed team members resulting in successful recovery of high-value, classified asset..."